Holidays used to be about fun in the sun and cocktails by the pool – now they feel like hard work

Instead of the stress and hassle of travelling during the pandemic, we’re spending that money on opening a pop-up art gallery, says Jenny Eclair

Holidaymakers in Padstow, Cornwall (Getty)

This year, instead of going on holiday, we are opening a pop-up art gallery. When I say “we”, I really mean my partner, who has been dealing in 20th-century prints online and at specialist art fairs for the past few years.

It’s not that we’re going without a holiday at all. Like most of London’s ghastly middle class, we managed a few days in Cornwall last month, but bits of the holiday felt like hard work. As my hairdresser said the other day when describing her recent family trip to a holiday camp, “I kept having to remember I was having fun.”

This is what Covid-19 has done to holidays, which are meant to be endless days of sunshine and carefree lolling, combined with loads of bar snacks and pina coladas.